The NHL was booming ahead of the 2019-20 season with their new TV deal as well as new sponsorships coming in. Their revenue was increasing and that meant the salary cap was going to see new levels of exponential growth. Projections had the salary cap rising over 90 million in just a few seasons after hanging around the high 70s and low 80s for years on end.
Unfortunately the worldwide pandemic quelled all that momentum and the NHL had to adopt a stagnant salary cap ever since. For years it remained at 81.5 million before slight increases over the last few years to 82.5 and 83.5 million, respectively.
Last year it was announced that the cap was going to increase in 2024-25 to around 87.7 million. In anticipation of the increase, a lot of players have seen an uptick in their new contracts to reflect the upcoming changes. Today it was announced that for the 2024-25 season it will be an 88 million dollar upper limit, 76.5 midpoint, and a lower limit of 65 million - the biggest jump since the pandemic.
The salary cap was expected to be at 87.5 million so the extra 300,000 dollar increase than what was originally planned out had to be negotiated between both parties, according to David Alter. While $300,000 might not sound like a big deal, it will help out a lot of teams currently cap strapped by albatross contracts or dead cap and bonus overages.
